Gramática: Verbos con cambio de raíz (Stem-changing verbs)

We’ve seen a number of verbs so far that change the final vowel of their stem in some of their conjugated forms, for example: ¡Ay! Me duelen los pies (doler), and Los niños tienen diez años (tener). These are not random irregularities– there are three categories of stem-changing verbs, which all follow a similar pattern of changing the last vowel of their stem in the conjugated forms where that vowel is stressed.

A. Verbos con cambio de raíz e>ie

Comenzar (to start, to begin)
	Singular	Plural
1a	comienzo	comenzamos
2a	comienzas	comenzáis
3a	comienza	comienzan

Note that the nosotros and vosotros forms do not change their ‘e’ to ‘ie’, because the stress in those forms falls on the next syllable.

And remember that the stem-changing vowel does not affect the personal ending for the verb, which depends on who the subject is and whether the verb is in the -AR, -ER, or -IR conjugation group. Here’s an example of an -ER verb that has the e>ie stem change:

Querer (to want)
	Singular	Plural
1a	quiero	queremos
2a	quieres	queréis
3a	quiere	quieren

B. Verbos con cambio de raíz o>ue

Dormir (to sleep)
	Singular	Plural
1a	duermo	dormimos
2a	duermes	dormís
3a	duerme	duermen

C. Verbos con cambio de raíz e>i

Interestingly, all the verbs in this group are -IR verbs.

Pedir (to ask for, to request)
	Singular	Plural
1a	pido	pedimos
2a	pides	pedís
3a	pide	piden

Vocabulario: algunos verbos con cambio de raíz

o>ue

• Almorzar (to eat lunch)
• Costar (to cost)
• Devolver (to return a thing, to give back)
• Encontrar (to find)
• Jugar (to play) (u>ue: juego, juegas, juega, jugamos, jugáis, juegan)
• Poder (to be able)
• Recordar (to remember)
• Volver (to return, to come back)

e>ie

• Cerrar (to close)
• Empezar (to start, to begin)
• Entender (to understand)
• Pensar (to think)
• Preferir (to prefer)
• Perder (to lose)
• Sentir (to feel)
• Tener (to have) (yo tengo, tú tienes…)
• Venir (to come) (yo vengo, tú vienes…)

e>i

“El que rίe de último rίe mejor” (The one that laughs last, laughs better.)

• Decir (to say, to tell) (yo digo, tú dices…)
• Reír  (to laugh) (yo río, tú ríes, él ríe, nosotros reímos, vosotros reís, ellos ríen)
• Repetir (to repeat)
• Seguir (to follow, to continue)
• Servir (to serve)
• Sonreír (to smile) (yo sonrío, tú sonríes…)

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